Ice Fishing and Snowmobiles
by coldfusion9797
Summary: A weekend away for Hank and Antonio doesn't quite go to plan because being a cop isn't something you do, it's something you are. Set mid season 3. Hank/Antonio established relationship.
1. The Plan

**AN: This fic works as a sequel to More Than We Know or as a stand-alone. I'll leave it up to you. Enjoy!**

It was way too late to still be at work, yet here they were. Antonio had spent the last hour doing paperwork that could've waited because Voight was sequestered in his office doing God only knew what.

What it all boiled down to was that Antonio was sick of waiting. He got up from his desk and flung open the door of Voight's office.

"Are we ever going home?"

"I'm almost done," the sergeant said without even looking up which annoyed the younger detective.

"No," Antonio said, stalking closer and snatching the pen out of Voight's hand. "You're done now."

"Hey," Voight protested. "Give it back."

"I don't think I'm going to."

"I could make you."

"I'd like to see you try."

The sergeant leaned back and fixed him with a thoughtful look before standing up and walking around the desk to confront Antonio.

"Please give me back my pen," he asked with a pleasant smile.

"No," Antonio said, tucking the pen behind his back and giving Voight an equally sweet smile.

"Okay," Voight shrugged, then he made as though he was gonna walk out but spun round, twisting Antonio's arm higher up his back and shoving him down so he was bent over the desk.

"Drop it," he growled, squeezing Antonio's wrist painfully.

"Ow, shit. Alright, alright," Antonio agreed, relaxing his grip and letting the pen fall to the floor. Voight backed off a little giving Antonio enough room to spin around, so he was now sitting on the desk facing him.

"Told ya," Voight said.

"Yeah, yeah," Antonio complained, rubbing his wrist. "That freakin' hurt by the way."

"If you're lucky I might be able to come up with something to make it up to you."

"You damn well better," Antonio said, grabbing Voight's belt loops and yanking him closer.

"But it won't be happening here," Voight firmly stated.

"Then it might never happen. When was the last time you took a break?"

"A what?" Voight teased.

"Exactly," Antonio complained. "Listen, Jay's uncle has got this cabin in Wisconsin. I was thinking maybe we could up go there? It'd be kinda nice, just the two of us. No criminals, no paperwork..." Antonio proposed, sliding his hands around Voight's waist and pulling him closer.

"That does sound pretty tempting," Voight agreed.

"Ice fishing and snowmobiles..."

"I was thinking more like a blizzard where we got snowed in for a week."

"Yeah, that'd work too," Antonio grinned, before planting a messy kiss on his boss.

xxx

Catching Jay alone in the kitchen, Antonio seized the moment.

"Hey, Jay. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure man. What's up?" Jay said, sitting a teaspoon down on the sink and taking a sip of his coffee. He'd settled right back in at Intelligence. Voight knew what a great cop he was and had only let him leave just to see how far he was willing to go for Erin. Apparently, he'd gone far enough.

"Do you reckon it'd be cool with your uncle if I stayed at his cabin for a couple of nights?"

"Should be sweet. I'll ask him and let you know. When were you thinking?"

"As soon as possible."

"Maybe I should see if I can get some time off too and come with? I haven't been up there for ages."

"Umm..." Antonio fidgeted.

A knowing grin spread across Jay's face and he held his hand up.

"Say no more. Dirty weekend, huh?"

"Don't say it like that," Antonio grumbled. "And stop pulling that face."

"I will if you do. You two are seriously adorable sometimes. You know that?"

"We are not," Antonio scoffed at the ridiculous description. Hank Voight, adorable? When hell froze over...

"No?" Jay challanged, stepping out into the bullpen. "Hey Al! What are Voight and Dawson like?"

Al looked Antonio straight in the eye and said; "Adorable. So much so that sometimes I wanna pinch your cheeks."

"There you have it," Jay declared, rightfully claiming his victory.

Some time away from the office was sounding better and better by the second.

"The cabin," Antonio reminded with a scowl, poking Jay in the chest. "Don't forget."

"Kind of hard to shnookums," Jay called after him.

From behind Al's partition Antonio could've sworn he heard a muffled laugh.

**AN: So yeah. Not a super serious fic, but hopefully a fun one. Thanks for reading :)**


	2. The Place

Just getting out of the city was nice, even if for no other reason than it was a change.

Antonio was happy to sit back and let Hank drive, the older cop needing to maintain some semblance of control.

He watched the world pass by outside, farmhouses and pastures all covered in a blanket of white.

He couldn't wait to get out among it, whether that be sitting peacefully on the lake with a fishing line or going for a spin on the snowmobile, and to have Hank there to share it all with was going to make the next few days pretty perfect.

Suddenly, Antonio was ripped from his daydreaming, when Hank slammed the brakes on.

"Watch it! You goddamned moron!" Hank yelled.

Antonio gathered his senses in time to see a beat-up old truck tearing off down a side road, one corner of a tarpaulin flapping in the wind.

"You get the licence plate?" Hank demanded.

"No," Antonio lied. "Forget it. We're on vacation. Look, there's the forest up there."

Up ahead the snowy white fields ended, to be replaced with tall, wintertime trees.

Hank still gripped the steering wheel furiously and Antonio knew he was about two seconds away from giving chase, so he reached over and rested his hand on Hank's arm.

"Hey c'mon..."

Hank turned hard, brown eyes on him.

"For me?" Antonio asked.

When Hank relaxed, Antonio leaned over and gave him a grateful kiss.

xxx

"So this is it huh?" Hank asked as they stood outside the rundown cabin.

"It's rustic," Antonio shrugged, hoping the inside wasn't like the outside. He was gonna kill Jay if this trip turned out to be a wash.

Antonio pushed the door open and sighed with relief when he saw the cosy interior. Maybe Jay was safe.

He turned on Hank before he let him in.

"Now, once you step through this door no cop talk, I mean it. For the next few days we are just regular people on a regular vacation. Okay?"

"Okay," Hank nodded, humouring Antonio, sure that the resolve would last about thirty minutes on both their parts.

They headed inside, finding the bedroom and dumping their bags.

"Phones off," Antonio instructed, so they both switched them off and stowed them in their bags. "Now listen."

Silence.

"Isn't it great?"

Honestly Hank was a little unnerved, but he did love Antonio's enthusiasm.

"You know what I think is great?" he offered. "You, me and no interruptions."

"Yeah?" Antonio smirked.

"Yeah," Hank smiled back. "Come here." He pulled Antonio roughly against him and slammed their mouths together.

Antonio just had time to think that coming to this cabin was a genius idea, before slipped a hand into his pants and he was done with thinking.

xxx

"We should come up here more often," Hank mused. Looking blissfully satisfied from where he lay tangled in the sheets.

"I don't know how my ass would feel about that," Antonio joked. Seriously though, Hank had been punishing.

"You're tough, you can handle it."

Antonio quirked a brow, then leaned into kiss Hank again.

"No sé por qué te aguanté..." he purred.

"See now that's just asking for it," Hank smiled against Antonio's mouth, hands sliding down to cup his ass.

A loud knock sounded from the front door. Antonio groaned.

"Leave it," Hank suggested.

"Who could it possibly be?"

"Who cares?" Voight said, digging his fingers into Antonio's flesh.

The knocking grew louder.

"I don't think they're going away."

"Fine," Voight sighed, reluctantly letting go.

Antonio quickly pulled on some jeans and Hank's plaid shirt because it was closest, before going to answer the door. He pulled it open to reveal the local law enforcement. Two guys in uniform. They were the same height, both having about four inches on him, and they were built, especially the blonde one. Probably ex-military, they had that punk look that Jay sometimes got. Both had standard cop blank expressions on their handsome faces. (What? Well he did have eyes, after all.)

"Officers," he greeted. "How can I help?"

They eyed him up and down, and yeah it was probably pretty obvious that he'd just finished a thorough fucking, not that it was any of their business.

"Haven't seen you around these parts before..." The blonde one said.

So this was to be an interrogation. Antonio decided to stop it before it began.

"Look fellas, it's okay, I'm a cop. Chicago PD Intelligence. District 21."

"A cop huh? Well you won't mind answering a few questions then."

"Depends what they're about," Antonio replied, a little less friendly than he'd started out. The tough guy routine was going to wear thin pretty quick.

"First one, how do you know the owner of this cabin?"

"I work with his nephew. Another cop."

Clearly something was up, these guys meant business.

The wardens shared a look, they'd obviously been partnered up for a while and were pretty attuned to one another. Antonio was just deciding how best to convince them he was one of the good guys when Hank arrived on the scene.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked from behind Antonio.

The local law took in Voight, (who Antonio noticed had slipped on his own shirt, the dark blue one, which looked pretty good on Hank actually), and then turned back to Antonio with a smirk.

"Having a little fun without the boss finding out, huh?"

"Actually," Voight said, stepping forward and crossing his arms. "I am the boss. So why don't you boys back up a bit, huh? We're not breaking any laws."

"Tough guy, huh?" the blonde sneered.

Hank levelled a hard gaze at him.

"You have no idea."

Blondie looked keen to take up the challenge.

"Mind if we take a look around?" he asked, though Antonio got the feeling it wasn't really a question.

"On suspicion of?" Hank demanded.

"The fact that you don't own this place and I've never seen you before."

"That's not a crime. Come back when you've got something more than a bug up your ass."

For a second Antonio worried that Hank had pushed too far, he knew they'd done nothing wrong, but he didn't want this guy to make things difficult for them just because he could. They hadn't driven five hours up here to have their balls busted by a couple of backwater game wardens. But then he noticed the look on the other cops face, the one with the big, blue eyes, and saw that he was trying not to laugh. He caught Antonio watching him and took hold of the situation.

He clapped a hand on his partner's shoulder.

"C'mon pal, we've got plenty of other places to check this afternoon."

Voight and the blonde cop stared at each other a while longer, before the blonde finally backed down. He turned without a word and walked off. Antonio shared a relieved look with the other cop before he followed his hot-headed partner back to their truck.

Antonio closed the door with a sigh.

"So much for no cop talk, huh?"

"Not our fault," Hank shrugged, taking a step closer, and pinning Antonio against the door. "Now, where were we?"

"Think we were about to get cleaned up and go ice fishing, weren't we?"

"Really?" Voight groaned.

"Really," Antonio grinned, pressing a cheeky kiss to Hank's mouth before darting off to get ready.

xxx

Voight appeared, wearing a knit cap that sat above his ears. It was seriously freezing outside. Antonio grabbed the woollen hat and pulled it lower over the older man's ears.

"You live in Chicago and you don't know how to wear a knit."

"Now how am I supposed to hear the ice when it starts to crack?" Hank complained.

"It's not gonna crack."

"Besides, I don't think I'm gonna be taking advice off you. What is that?" Hank said, reaching up to poke the black pompom atop the red and white knit Antonio was wearing.

"Hey, this is official Blackhawks merch."

"It has reindeers and pine trees on it."

"Exactly. It's awesome, right?"

Voight eyed it sceptically.

"It's something..."

xxx

Antonio picked a place that he declared was perfect. Hank had to take his word for it, unlike Antonio, he'd never been ice fishing before.

Antonio drilled a hole through the lake's frozen surface, a ridiculous idea if he'd bothered to ask Hank, but of course it was the only way to get to the fish.

Antonio baited up their lines and they dropped them into the frigid water. Now there was nothing to do but sit and wait.

Hank supposed he should be used to waiting, stakeouts required patience, but he wasn't a patient person by any stretch of the imagination. That's what he had Al for. That man could stare at a single door for three days straight without blinking.

Besides, in the city there was always something happening. The place hummed with the comforting energy of life. Out here, it was silent except for the occasional whomp of a clump of snow falling to the ground. And the place Antonio had chosen to sit was completely exposed. Obviously they had no choice, they were in the middle of a frozen lake, but the vast open space made him a little nervous. There was absolutely nowhere to duck for cover should the need arise.

"I can't help but notice that right now, we are the proverbial sitting ducks..."

"What have we got to worry about? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"An oxymoron right there. What if a bear wanders by?"

"It's the middle of winter, they're all snuggled up in their dens this time of year."

"Yeah? Guess that makes them smarter than your average Chicago cop then."

**AN: If you know me, I'd say it's pretty obvious who these two Wisconsin cops are. What can I say? I am pretty much incapable of even thinking a thought, let alone writing anything, that doesn't involve these two these days. But they are AU versions so you don't need to be a Marvel fan for this fic to work. Thanks for reading :)**


	3. The Case

They snapped awake at the same moment, disturbed by a crash from outside.

"What the hell was that?" Antonio wondered.

"It came from out back," Voight said, reaching over and grabbing a gun from the bedside table drawer.

"Hey!" Antonio protested.

"You can bust my balls about it later."

Another crash sounded.

Antonio jumped out of bed, pulled on some clothes and grabbed a couple of things from his bag including a flashlight.

They quickly made their way to the back door, falling into position with practiced ease, they'd done this kind of thing hundreds of times together now.

"Who's there?!" Antonio called. No one answered. They shared a look and flicked on their flashlights. Antonio nodded, and pushed open the door. Hank moved through and scanned, as a large black shape disappeared into the trees.

"Was that a...?" Antonio questioned.

"Yeah," Hank said, lowering his weapon. "So much for the bears being all snuggled up."

They watched for a little while longer, with no sign of the bear returning, then turned their lights on the damage. It wasn't too bad, just a couple of overturned trash cans, it must've smelled the fish scraps from dinner. Antonio rubbed his hands together which were starting to sting from the cold.

"It's freezing out here, let's worry about this in the morning."

"Sure," Hank agreed, heading back inside.

When they reached the bedroom, Antonio turned on him.

"You know, you promised..."

Hank just gave him that look, like he wasn't buying it, then he stepped real close and slid an arm around behind Antonio, pulling the hidden piece from his waistband.

"So did you," he said, pushing the pistol into Antonio's hands. They stared at each other, until Antonio finally relented with a lopsided grin.

"Call it even then?"

"No way," Hank shook his head. "Not a chance."

xxx

"So," Hank drawled. "What are you cooking me for breakfast?"

"Who said I'm cooking?"

Hank gave him a hard look.

"Fine," Antonio submitted, rolling out of bed to start the day.

He whipped up some bacon and eggs while Hank sat at the table with a coffee and watched him.

"Seriously? If you're gonna just sit there, you could help."

"Na, I'd rather just enjoy the view thanks."

"Is that supposed to be charming?" Antonio pouted.

"You tell me," Hank smirked.

Antonio tried to fight the smile forming on his own face, but the lost the battle. Hank's grin widened victoriously.

Antonio sat Hank's plate down in front of him.

"Shut up and eat your breakfast."

xxx

"That was delicious," Hank appreciated, leaning back and wiping his face with a napkin when they were done.

"Glad you approve," Antonio pouted. Hank just smiled.

"I'll get the dishes," he offered.

"Really?" Antonio said, a little surprised that Hank was letting him off so easily.

"Yeah, because don't you have some trash cans to go clean up?"

Antonio sighed. He shoulda known.

xxx

Hank had just turned the faucet off and was rolling up his sleeves when he heard Antonio call out.

"Hey Hank! Come take a look at this!"

He grabbed his coat and headed outside.

In the daylight the blood was obvious. On the snow it stood out in stark red patches.

"And look," Antonio pointed out. "There's a trail." Bloody paw prints tracked across the snow. Antonio looked up with a familiar glint in his eye, it was the one he got when a case jumped off. "Wanna see where it leads?"

"Are you crazy? It's gonna lead to either a pissed off or a man-eating bear. Probably both."

"It was a black bear, we'll be fine. Plus," Antonio added with a grin, pulling a set of keys from his pocket with a jingle. "I've been dying to get the snowmobile out of the shed."

xxx

How the hell did he let Antonio talk him into this? Hank wondered as he sat behind the other man on a frigging snowmobile ripping across blood stained snow in the Wisconsin wilderness.

"Isn't this awesome?!" Antonio called back, apparently having the time of his life. Hank could think of better ways to spend his precious days off, though admittedly the company wasn't too bad. And if Hank wrapped his arms tighter around Antonio it was just because he loved him. Yeah right.

They followed the trail through the woods, until they came to a wider track where unmistakable blue flashes reflected up off the snow.

Antonio brought the snowmobile to a halt.

Voight turned to see a couple of people he recognised climbing off their own snowmobiles. It was the two wardens that had come by the cabin the day before. Great. He wondered if either of them would be in a better mood today but seriously doubted it when he saw their stony expressions.

"Well look who we have here," the blonde said, taking the lead once again. "Do you have a trail pass?"

"We're on private property," Antonio pointed out.

"As of that last trail marker, you're on county land."

"We didn't know. Wanna cut us some slack?"

The question earned him a disapproving look.

"Are you asking me to ignore the fact that you're breaking the law because you're a police officer?"

"I'm asking that maybe you take into account that we're not from around here and we made a mistake."

The blonde looked about ready to put them in cuffs when his more reasonable partner cut in.

"What are you two doing out this far anyway?" Blue Eyes asked.

"There was a bear at the cabin last night-" Antonio began to explain.

"A bear?" The blonde interrupted. "At this time of year? And you expect us to believe that?"

"Yeah actually, we do because it's true. There was a trail of blood leading away so we followed it."

The blonde gave them a disbelieving look.

"You're telling me that you city boys decided to follow an injured bear? Ever hear that expression 'like a bear with a sore head'? What'd you think was gonna happen if you found it?"

"We've got the snowmobile and we're both armed," Antonio defended the decision. "And yes, we have permits for them."

"Listen," Voight said. "Are you gonna book us or can we get outta here? Vacation time is limited."

While they'd been arguing with Blondie, something had caught Blue Eyes' attention and he'd gone to take a closer look.

"Hey Steve," he called. "Take a look at this."

"Stay right there," 'Steve' commanded before going to join his partner.

Hank couldn't help himself, he turned to Antonio.

"I told you this was a stupid idea."

Antonio ignored the comment. He'd suspected it yesterday and was sure of it today, something was going on here. Admittedly, he was intrigued.

"What do you think is going on here? These guys are obviously onto something..." He didn't wait for an answer before wandering over to where the Wisconsin cops were standing over more blood on the snow.

The blonde heard him approach and turned on him.

"Did I not clearly instruct you to wait over there?"

Hank came to a stop right beside him, both of them ignoring the chastisement.

"Those are big droplets," Hank assessed. "Someone moving slowly and bleeding from an open wound. Gunshot probably."

"You hear anything?" the nice one asked.

"Not above the sound of the engine," Antonio answered.

"This means we're close," Voight stated.

And they were. A few more yards of crunching across the frozen ground and they found the source. A dead bear lay mangled in front of them. Its throat had been cut, its spilled blood forming a congealed pool. Its innards lay strewn across the snow.

"They know we're close," Steve assessed, all his attention now focused on the case.

His partner crouched down next to the carcass and plunged his hands straight into the mess of offal as though he were searching for something.

Hank looked absolutely scandalised. It was the first time Antonio had ever seen him so.

"Liver and gall bladder are missing," he announced.

"So they grabbed the valuable parts and probably thought they could come back for the meat," Steve assessed.

"Looks like," Blue Eyes agreed.

"This was a rushed job. They must've heard us coming. And they didn't intend to make the kill here, too close to the trail. Something went wrong."

This was obviously an ongoing case, Steve's disbelief at them claiming to see a bear was feigned.

"You knew exactly what you were looking for," Antonio stated, calling him on his untruth. "Wanna clue us in? Maybe we can help. I'm Dawson by the way, this is Voight."

The wardens shared a look. Steve seemed to be the one that made the calls, but he also didn't make them without confirming with his partner first. Blue Eyes nodded.

They introduced themselves as Barnes and Rogers, and then Rogers filled them in.

"Poachers have been operating in the area. We'd never seen you before and you showed up on the trail of an injured bear that'd be disturbed out of its torpor."

"It's what?" Antonio said.

"Hibernation. So obviously you were suspects."

"Right, and now that you've seen what Hank thinks of playing in bear guts, you can see we're not. So what do you know about the offenders?"

"Not much, just that they aren't operating like poachers usually would."

"How so?"

"Normally tags are traded illegally, the hunt is part of the experience. A bear skin rug is more valuable if you killed the bear yourself."

"And what are these guys doing?"

"Finding the dens and killing them there. There's no sport in it, it's products they're after. They can still use the hides for rugs. Take the organs. Sell the meat."

"Seems like alotta trouble for some pet food," Hank commented.

"No," Barnes corrected. "For human consumption."

Hank and Antonio shared a look.

"And we thought people in Chicago were hardcore," said Hank.

"So if they're butchering them," Antonio continued, doing his best to get over the part where he'd just learned that people eat bears, and concentrate on the facts. "They'll need somewhere to do it."

"Exactly," Rogers agreed. "So when we knock on the door of a secluded cabin and find two guys we don't know. It's suspicious."

A random memory suddenly popped into Antonio's head. The beat-up old truck that had cut them off on the way into the forest. It had a concealed load and was heading down a road that seemed to lead to nowhere.

"You got any leads?" he asked.

"Not at this stage."

"Right. Well try running this licence plate..."


	4. The Chase

**AN: Since writing this I have a lot more respect for the CPD writers. Writing a case is hard! **

The plates came back false. Which was a flag in itself. So they decided to check out the location that Antonio had suggested.

As the only possible eyewitnesses, Antonio and Voight tagged along to offer what insight they could.

At the end of the road they came to an old farm workshop.

"Do derelict buildings usually have shiny new padlocks on them?" Antonio questioned.

"You boys got bolt cutters?" Voight asked.

"We can't do this without a warrant," Rogers replied.

"Just get the cutters," Voight said. Rogers gave Barnes a nod and he retrieved the tool, handing it to Hank.

He cut the lock and pocketed it.

"Well look at that..." he said, pulling the door open. "How careless can you be? Left the place wide open."

Barnes kept watch while Antonio, along with Hank and Rogers, went inside to investigate. Carefully they descended the stairs into the cellar. It was immediately clear that they'd found the place they were looking for.

A body was suspended from the ceiling. One that had been beheaded and skinned. Long, thin arms hung limply to the floor.

"Are those remains human?" Antonio said, feeling that familiar wave of disgust he always did when confronted by the terrible things people were capable of doing to others. If so, this case had just jumped to a whole other level.

"The bears look disturbingly human once they've been skinned," Rogers said.

"It looks like a scene from Gein's garden shed," Voight commented. They weren't too far from the Plainfield ghouls old hunting ground here.

They continued their search, Antonio checking each shadowy nook, while Hank scanned through junk on a table looking for clues.

"Hey, I know this place. It's a laundry in Chinatown." He held up a receipt. "Long way to go to get your laundry done," Rogers said.

"I'll bet that's the buyer," Antonio concluded, already pulling out his phone. "I'm gonna call Jay, get him and Lindsay to take a look."

Antonio held his phone up, looking for service.

"Damn. No signal down here. I'll be right back." He headed upstairs to put in the call.

xxx

Erin and Jay were on their way back from a call out. Erin, of course, was driving.

"No, no, no," Jay argued. "Chicken on pizza is just unnatural..."

He was cut off from telling her the same thing about pineapple and barbecue sauce when his phone rang.

"It's Antonio," he said with surprise as he hit answer.

"Hey buddy," Jay greeted, grinning into the phone. "Shouldn't you be snuggling by the fireside or something?"

"Yeah right," Antonio scoffed. "Listen I need you to check out an address. It's-"

"Wait, what are you doing? You forget you're on vacation?"

"Just shut up and listen okay?"

"Okay," Jay said, getting more serious as he picked up on the seriousness in Antonio's tone.

"Right, so it's a cleaner in Chinatown. I'm thinking the laundry business is a front and the real money is in back. Illegal wildlife products."

"Okay. And how'd you get tangled up in this?"

Some of the edge went out of Antonio's voice.

"A damn bear got into the trash last night."

"In January?"

"That's the problem. Some idiot decided to go around waking them up. Check the address and let me know what you find. Could be organs, hides or meat. Apparently, people eat the damn things."

"I don't even know what to say to that."

"Yeah, I know, right? Quite the delicacy so I'm told. Supposed to be an aphrodisiac too."

"Who the hell told you that?"

"A couple of local wardens we're working with."

"When you get home, we need to have a serious discussion about the meaning of the word 'vacation'. For now we'll check it out and let you know."

"Thanks Jay."

Antonio gave him the address and hung up.

Jay put his phone down and looked over at Erin.

"I shoulda put that on speaker, you're not gonna believe me."

xxx

Voight continued to search. There was an old computer idling away, but as he went to pass it by, the screen flicked to life.

The display was divided into four. Two of the sections were dark but two were camera feeds. Voight recognised Antonio's boots on one of them.

"Hey, come take a look at this," he said to the game warden. Rogers came over and stood beside him to watch.

"Its motion activated," Voight stated.

"Yeah," the other cop agreed. "Looks like a trail cam used by hunters."

"Setting them on the ground is smart, we didn't look for them on the way in."

Another pair of boots came into the shot.

"That's Buck." ...

... "Any luck?" Barnes asked.

"A couple of detectives from my unit are gonna check it out."

"Okay," Barnes nodded, but then some of the formality slid off. "So you and the tough guy. You work together in Chicago?"

"Yeah..."

"And what? You live together too, or is this a down low thing?"

Antonio wasn't sure it was any of the younger cops' business and was about to tell him so.

"Look-"

"Relax," Barnes said with an easy smile. "I was just wondering how it all works. You guys seem pretty tight."

"We are," Antonio answered and then he realised what this was all about. Barnes was looking for advice. He made the obvious leap.

"Rogers being a pain in the ass?"

Barnes let out a cynical laugh.

"I wish."

Antonio had to grin too.

It seemed about right that Rogers would be firmly in the denial camp when it came to homosexuality if he was indeed that way inclined.

"I mean sometimes I think he wants it too, but I don't wanna screw up a good thing. He's been my best friend since we were kids. How'd you make it happen?"

"Trust me, you don't wanna find out the way we did."

Barnes waited for Antonio explain. It was a memory he'd rather not recall, but Barnes was asking for help, he couldn't refuse.

"Hank got shot. It was touch and go for a while. I knew he liked me, but it was the kick up the ass I needed. Put things in perspective. I knew I didn't wanna waste any more time. Plus, we have a couple of friends who don't know how to mind their own damn business." Antonio waved his phone. "We're waiting on a call back from them now actually."

"So the people you work with are okay with it?"

"It's a well-known fact that Hank Voight isn't to be fucked with. And he really is the boss."

Barnes was silent as he thought it all over, no doubt wondering if he could make a similar arrangement work. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here," Antonio offered, "and say you guys will figure it out. I assume you've always done everything together if you've known each other since you were kids and you've ended up partners. No reason this should be any different." ...

... Another pair of boots came into view on another camera, but Antonio and Barnes weren't moving.

"What the hell are they doing?" Rogers said impatiently.

"They don't know they're being watched," Voight realised.

He and Rogers both took off up the stairs, but they weren't anywhere near the action yet when a shot rang out, closely followed by two more.

Flashbacks of the district raced through Voight's mind as he ran towards the sound of gunfire. He prayed to God Antonio was okay, but often when gunfire was involved Antonio was the one who ended up copping a bullet.

When Hank and Rogers made it outside there were bodies on the ground. One was a stranger, the others they knew.

Antonio was kneeling, his front covered in blood. Voight's heart jumped into his throat as he raced to Antonio's side.

"Where you hit?" he demanded, eyes raking over Antonio for signs of damage.

"It's not mine," Antonio said, and Hank could see now that he was applying pressure to a serious wound on Barnes' upper arm. "The other two went that way. Go."

Rogers hesitated. Antonio understood, but there was no time to waste. Not if he wanted to catch the scumbags that had done this to his partner.

"I got this. Now go!" Antonio shouted, prompting the younger cop to pursue his duty.

"I'll call it in," Rogers said, going for his radio to call it in, as he moved in the direction Antonio had indicated.

"You okay?" Voight checked. Antonio nodded and Hank took off after the shooter too. Rogers was going to need backup.

xxx

Barnes was conscious but the shot was bleeding pretty bad. It was a nasty injury, nothing clean about it, the muscle had been ripped open and Antonio could see down to the glistening white bone.

"How bad is it?" Barnes asked through gritted teeth, sweat beading on his brow despite the fact he was lying in snow.

"You're gonna be okay," Antonio assured, as he packed the wound and grabbed Barnes' good hand, guiding it to the injury.

"Hold that for a sec. As tight as you can."

When he felt that Barnes had a good grip on it, he let go and pulled his belt off. It was all he could think of to stop the younger cop bleeding out right in front of him before the ambos arrived.

He wrapped the leather strap above the wound and pulled as tight as he dared. Barnes cried out with the pain, but it couldn't be helped.

"Sorry, but I don't have a choice. Anyway, this is nothing, try a chest full of lead then get back to me."

When it was done, he dragged Barnes off the snow and under cover, so he wouldn't freeze to death in the meantime. Hopefully help wasn't too far away.

xxx

Thank God Antonio had been so damn insistent about teaching him the basics of operating this thing.

Hank tore across the snow following the tracks that Rogers was leaving. He didn't have a hope in hell of catching these guys first, but he could at least be there when Rogers caught up with them to provide some back up.

He rounded a corner to find that Rogers had halted his pursuit. What the hell? The country had opened up and he was letting them get away when he still had a clear shot at catching them. Well, Chicago cops didn't give up that easily.

Hank pulled up beside him.

"What the hell? We almost had him! Those pricks shot your partner!"

"I know that!" Rogers snapped back.

"What the hell are we waiting for then?" Hank yelled, revving the engine. He'd do this alone if he had to. No one took a shot at Antonio and got away with it.

"Stop! Stop!"

"What?!"

"That's a lake. We can't go on there."

"Damnit!" Fuck the goddamned wilderness! "So what the hell do we do?"

"We'll have to go around."

"They'll be gone by then," Hank pointed out as he watched the perps getting further away. But then, one suddenly disappeared from view.

"Shit," Rogers swore.

"What?"

"He's gone through the ice."

Rogers climbed off his snowmobile, grabbed a rope and took off across the ice on foot. Cursing, Hank took off after him.

The closer they got, the slower Rogers took it, until they were about a dozen yards from the hole in the ice. Hank really, really didn't wanna be here. Street gang politics he could navigate all day long, but this nature crap was way out of his comfort zone.

As Rogers was prepping to go get the offender, Hank grabbed his arm. He'd be better at taking the orders, than giving them in this particular situation. If Rogers ended up in the drink too, they'd all be up shit creek.

"I'm lighter, I'll go."

Suddenly Antonio's lessons on ice lake safety didn't seem so bad either. He did his best to distribute is weight by lying down and sliding towards the broken edge.

The perp was quickly growing tired, but he still had enough strength to whine.

"Quit your yapping," Hank told him. "Here," he said, holding out the rope. "Loop that around yourself." The scumbag did as he was told.

With the line secure he shuffled back from the edge and gave Rogers the signal to haul the guy up.

They managed it, and with the three of them safely back on solid ground, Rogers pulled out a thermal blanket and wrapped it around the guy. Hank wouldn't have been so kind. The thought must have showed on his face.

"He might actually freeze to death without it," Rogers pointed out to justify the decision.

"Maybe," Hank shrugged, turning a cold look on the perp. He honestly didn't care if the guy died, he'd taken a shot at two cops, and he wanted him to know it. It would make what was to follow a hell of a lot easier.

**AN: So yeah, it's chronic. I also had to slash them up. Can't be helped I'm afraid. Thanks for reading :)**


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